Golf Reference - Time
Limits for a Round of Golf
What do the Rules of Golf
say about time limits for playing a shot or completing a round of golf?
Nothing concrete - only that a player may not "unduly delay" play, and
if the player does, he incurs a two-stroke penalty in stroke play or
loss of hole in match play (see Rule 6-7).
What constitutes an "undue delay"? The rules don't say.
How long does a golfer have to play an individual shot? The rules don't
address this at all. How long to complete a round? Again, the rules do
not address it.
Although the rulebook makes no ruling on the issue, rules committees do.
That's why you sometimes see Tour players being penalized for slow play.
The rules committee for a golf club or competition may set any time
limit it wishes to encourage a faster pace of play.
In competition, you should always know the pace-of-play regulations in
effect before beginning play (or better yet, play quickly enough that
you never have to worry about it).
There are some time limits in the rules, however. For example, you have
five minutes to search for a ball before it must be declared lost; if a
putt hangs on the lip of the cup, you have 10 seconds following your
walk to the cup to wait for the putt to fall.
From:
http://golf.about.com/cs/rulesofgolf/a/rulefaq_time.htm
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